• After being unranked in the first U SPORTS Top Ten of the season, the Rams broke into this week's poll at No. 7 following their season-opening road win over UBC.
• The Rams are looking to start the Canada West schedule with two straight victories for the third time in program history (2001, 2002).
• Alberta is coming off a strong home performance against No. 4-ranked Calgary which saw them nearly erase a 20-point second-half deficit before falling 41-31 to the Dinos.
SHORT YARDAGE SAM
Sam Varao ended up with legendary rushing statistics in the win over UBC – three rushes for three yards and three touchdowns, tying the University of Regina record for most rushing touchdowns in a single game. Varao now has the early Canada West lead in rushing touchdowns and is tied for the conference lead in touchdowns scored overall. At the national level, he's tied with Windsor's Jacob Savoni for the U SPORTS lead in rushing touchdowns.
AGAINST ALBERTA
The Rams hold a 21-9 all-time advantage over Alberta and are 11-3 against the Golden Bears in Regina. Alberta's road wins over the Rams came in 2004, 2005, and 2015.
FIRST ROAD WIN
The Rams' Week 1 victory over UBC was the first opening-week road win in their history at the Canada West level, though due to a scheduling quirk it was only the sixth time in 21 U SPORTS seasons that the Rams opened up the year with a road game.
TURNING POINT
One of the turning points in the win over UBC was the blocked punt by
Robbie Lowes, which was promptly scooped up by
Jaxon Ford and returned all the way inside the UBC five-yard line to set up a Rams major. It goes down as the first blocked kick by a Rams player since 2014, when
Tyler Perkins blocked a punt late in a Week 7 win over Manitoba.
FORCING TURNOVERS
In addition to the special teams turnover that Lowes and Ford combined for, the Rams defence combined for three additional turnovers and the Moore brothers were in on all of them.
Zach Moore had a second-quarter interception and also pounced on a
Cody Peters-induced fumble in the third, while
Matt Moore's sack on a third-down gamble in Regina territory gave the Rams the ball back early in the second half.
RAMS TAKE EARLY SACK LEAD
The Rams defence had the most sacks of any Canada West team in Week 1, finishing up with five for a total loss of 39 yards in the win over UBC.
Matt Moore had a solo sack and combined with
Josh White on another while
Ryder Varga,
Cord Delinte, and
Cameron Cross all recorded sacks of their own.
BIG PLAYS
The Rams connected for two plays in excess of 50 yards in the win over UBC, both of which came in the third quarter.
Josh Donnelly connected with
Riley Boersma for a 75-yard touchdown that put the Rams up 38-9, and a short time later Donnelly found
Kyle Moortgat for a 51-yard gain.
CHART CLIMBING
Ryan Schienbein continues his ascent up the U of R's all-time charts. He passed Jordan Sisco for fifth on the school list for receiving yards, and with 2077 in his career now needs just 93 more to overtake Jason Clermont for fourth. He also needs just seven more catches to pass
Mitchell Picton for fourth on the receptions list and 11 more to overtake Chad Goldie for third, and is also now tied with Mike Thomas for fourth in school history in receiving touchdowns.
1000
Kyle Moortgat joined the 1000-yard club in the win over UBC, catching five passes for 90 yards to hit quadruple digits in career receiving yards. The veteran slotback now has 1037 over his time at the U of R.
DEBUTS
Three Rams players are expected to dress for their first career Canada West games against Alberta as
Parker Hodel,
Sam Mike, and
Dillon Zimmermann will all suit up. Three other Rams should make their season debuts, as
Brandon Brooks,
Cody Ellingson, and
Noah Sampson didn't make the trip to UBC but are listed on the preliminary depth chart for the Alberta game.
